Item holder for file organizer and ring binder

ABSTRACT

An item holder used within a retaining device, such as a file organizer or a ring binder, and adapted to hold a variety of office supplies. The item holder includes a main body having a front face provided with a first set of pockets, and a rear face joined to the front face and provided with a second set of pockets. The main body includes an upper edge joined to an elongated sleeve that enables removable attachment of the main body to the retaining device.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to an article carrier enablingthe storage and retrieval of various objects. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to an item holder that provides for storage ofoffice or business supplies, and that is useful in different retainingdevices or by itself.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The art of providing suitable article carriers for storage of variousobjects has been pursued extensively for many years. As a result,article carriers are known to retain business or office supplies such asscissors, writing instruments, note pads, file cards and the like indifferent tray, pocket or pouch arrangements.

However, there remains a need for a more versatile item holder having acommon structure for allowing storage and easy accessibility of officesupplies in multiple applications. Accordingly, it is desirable toprovide an item holder that stores office supplies in pockets open atupper ends, and that can be used in more than one different typeretaining devices, such as file organizers or ring binders, as well asby itself.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an item holder adapted to store varioussupplies in an organized manner. The item holder includes a main bodyhaving a front face provided with a first set of pockets, and a rearface joined to the front face and provided with a second set of pockets.The main body includes an upper edge attached to a sleeve extendinglongitudinally of the upper edge.

The sleeve is provided with a series of spaced apart holes formedtransversely therethrough. The holes are bordered by reinforcinggrommets. The holes are equally spaced apart along a length of thesleeve. The first set of pockets of the main body includes a pluralityof differently sized pockets that are open at upper ends thereof. Thesecond set of pockets on the rear face of the main body may include twopockets that are open at upper ends thereof, and that extend across awidth of the rear face. The main body includes a lower edge and a pairof side edges joining with the upper and lower edges. A rigidifying coreis interposed between the front and rear faces.

In another aspect of the invention, an item holder is used with aretaining device and adapted to hold a variety of office suppliestherein. The combination includes a main body having a front faceprovided with a first set of pockets, and a rear face joined to thefront face and provided with a second set of pockets. The main bodyincludes an upper edge joined to an elongated sleeve that enablesremovable attachment of the main body to the retaining device. Thesleeve is formed with a plurality of spaced apart holes formedtransversely through the sleeve. The main body has a generallyrectangular periphery. In one application, the sleeve slidably receivesa support bar having opposed ends supported on a file support edge of afile organizer defining the retaining device. In another application,the holes of the sleeve receive rings of a ring binder defining theretaining device.

In yet another aspect of the invention, a kit includes a main bodyhaving a front face provided with a first set of pockets, and a rearface showing to the front face and provided with a second set ofpockets. The main body includes an upper edge attached to a sleeveextending longitudinally of the upper edge. An elongated support bar iscapable of slidable insertion in the sleeve such that opposed ends ofthe bar project beyond opposed ends of the sleeve.

The sleeve is provided with a series of spaced apart holes formedtransversely therethrough. The support bar is I-shaped in cross sectionand has a length which is greater than a length of the main body. Theopposed ends of the support bar include support retainers extendingupwardly and laterally therefrom. The support bar has an upper edge, alower edge and series of reinforcing members that join the upper andlower edges. All of the pockets are open at upper ends thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings illustrate the best mode presently contemplated forcarrying out the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a file organizer providedwith an item holder embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is perspective view of a three-ring binder in an opened positionshowing a modified form of the item holder of FIG. 1 retained therein;

FIG. 3 is a rear assembled view of the item holder shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front exploded view of the item holder of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 5.5 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

One preferred application of an item holder 10 according to the presentinvention is shown in FIG. 1 wherein the item holder 10 is removablysuspended in an open top file organizer 12 having a series of hangingfile folders 14 for storage of records, documents and other information.The file organizer 12 has a storage body 16 for defining an open storagecavity 18. The item holder 10 is positioned within the storage cavity 18adjacent to the file folders 14 for storing various supplies, such as aspiral notebook 20, a scissors 22, a pen 24, mechanical pencil 26, acalculator 28 and a self-sticking notepad 30. The supplies illustratedare exemplary only and may take other forms as desired.

The storage body 16 is provided with an outer peripheral wall 32including a pair of opposed sidewalls 34, 36 and a pair of opposed endwalls 38, 40 that serve as the respective front and rear walls of thestorage body 16. The outer peripheral wall 32 is joined to the edge of abottom wall 42 that forms the base of the storage body 16.

The outer peripheral wall 32 has an upper end that defines a U-shapedperipheral channel 44. As seen in FIG. 3, the channel 44 includes a basewall 46 that lies generally perpendicular to the outer peripheral wall32, an outer sidewall 48 that rises generally perpendicular to the basewall 46 and an inner sidewall 50 that rises generally perpendicularly tothe base wall and lies parallel to the outer sidewall 48. A receivingcavity 52 is formed between the outer sidewall 48 and the inner sidewall50. The channel 44 is reinforced by a series of alignment tabs 54 thatextend along the length of each of the sidewalls 34, 36 and interconnectbase wall 46, outer sidewall 48 and inner sidewall 50. A top edge 56 ofinner sidewall 50 lies beneath a top edge 58 of outer sidewall 48, anddefines a file support edge for the item holder 10 and the file folders14.

As is well known, each hanging file folder 14 provides an expandablepocket for receiving and holding various information, documents andobjects within the file organizer 12. Each file folder 14 has a hangingrod 60 with opposed ends 62 which are supported on the file support edge56. In this manner, the storage body 16 is able to support a series ofhanging file folders 14 such that their bottom edges are suspendedslightly above the bottom wall 42 of the file organizer 12.

The item holder 10 is selectively positionable within the open storagecavity 18 to hold a variety of office supplies such as described above.As illustrated in FIG. 1, the item holder 10 can be positioned at aselected location along the length of each of the sidewalls 34, 36 forenabling convenient storage and retrieval of the office supplies.

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, the item holder 10 includes a double-sided mainbody 64 having a generally rectangular configuration with a continuousbound periphery 66. The periphery 66 includes an upper edge 68, a loweredge 70, and a pair of side edges 72, 74. The main body 64 has a frontface 76, a rear face 78 and a rigidifying core 80 interposed between thefront face 76 and the rear face 78. The front face 76, the rear face andthe core 80 are joined together by the bound periphery 66.

The front face 76 is provided with a first set of pockets which are openat upper ends thereof, and are variously sized to accommodate differentitems. In an exemplary application, a left side of the front face 76includes a first pocket 82 for holding the spiral notebook 20 and thescissors 22. A right side of the front face 76 includes a second pocket84 like first pocket 82 for holding the mechanical pencil 26 and thecalculator 28. Third, fourth and fifth pockets, 86, 88, 90,respectively, and sixth pocket 92 are attached to the second pocket 84.Third pocket 86 is shown holding the pen 24 and along with pockets 88and 90 is designed to hold other similarly sized items. Sixth pocket 92is shown holding the self-sticking notepad 30.

The rear face 78 of the main body 64 is provided with a second set ofpockets which are also open at an upper end thereof. In the exampleshown, the second set of pockets is embodied by two pockets 94 and 95extending across an entire length of the main body 64. The pockets 94and 95 are sized to hold relatively larger items such as paper documentsand the like.

It should be appreciated that the front face 76 and the rear face 78 maybe provided with any number and size of pockets as desired. Preferably,the front face 76, the rear face 78 and the pockets 82-95 areconstructed of a soft, non-woven material, but other materials may beused, as desired.

The main body 64 of the item holder further includes a sleeve 96 that isattached to and extends upwardly from and across the upper edge 68. Thesleeve 96 has a length which is slightly shorter than the length of themain body 64. The sleeve 96 is formed with three equally spaced apartthroughholes 98 that are provided with reinforcing grommets 100 attachedon opposite sides of the sleeve 96 as illustrated in FIG. 5. Thethroughholes 98 extend transversely through the opposite sides of thesleeve 96. Sleeve 96 may be formed from a webbing material or the samenon-woven material used to create the pockets on the main body 64.

In the application shown in FIGS. 1 and 3-5, a kit is formed by thecombination of the item holder 10 and an elongated support bar 102 whichis slidably received in the sleeve 96, and used to suspend item holder10 in the storage cavity 18. As seen best in FIGS. 3 and 4, the supportbar 102 has a linear upper edge 104, a linear lower edge 106 and a pairof outwardly flaring end walls 108, 109 that join the upper and loweredges 104 and 106 together. The upper and lower edges 104, 106 are alsojoined together by a series of reinforcing members 110 that extendalternately upwardly and downwardly at an angle longitudinally of thesupport bar 102 such that the support bar 102 is I-shaped in crosssection (FIG. 5). The support bar 102 has opposed ends 111 includingsupport retainers 112 extending laterally and upwardly therefrom. Thesupport retainers 112 have feet 114 spaced from the end walls 108, 109by support cavities 116 such that the file support edge 56 contactswalls 118 of the retainers 112 to support the item holder 10 within thestorage body 16.

As seen in FIG. 3, the lower edges of feet 114 extend into the receivingcavity 52 past the top edge of the alignment tabs 54 to limit slidingmovement of the item holder 10 along sidewalls 34, 36. In this manner,the series of alignment tabs 54 retain the item holder 10 in a desiredlocation within the storage cavity 18.

If it is desired to change the position of the item holder 10, a usermust first lift the item holder from within storage cavity 18 until thefeet 114 are above the alignment tabs 54. The item holder 10 can then bemoved to a new position between the desired pair of alignment tabs 54and lowered such that the feet 114 are retained between the tabs 54.

The invention contemplates a further application shown in FIG. 2 whereinthe item holder 10 is used without the support bar 102. In thisapplication, it should be understood that the throughholes 98 and thesleeve 96 have been equally spaced apart such that the throughholes 98can be aligned with and receive retaining rings 120 of a conventionalthree-ring binder 122.

It can therefore be appreciated that the present invention provides aversatile item holder that provides for easy storage and retrieval of avariety of office supply items on front and rear faces thereof. The itemholder 10 may be removably retained in a retaining device, such as afile organizer 12 or a ring binder 22, or may be carried by itself.

While the invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate that certainsubstitutions, alterations and omissions may be made without departingfrom the spirit thereof. Accordingly, the foregoing description is meantto be exemplary only and should not be deemed limitative on the scope ofthe invention set forth with the following claims.

1. An item holder adapted to store various supplies comprising: a mainbody having a front face provided with a first set of pockets, and arear face joined to the front face and provided with a second set ofpockets, the main body including an upper edge joined to a sleeveextending longitudinally of the upper edge.
 2. The item holder of claim1, wherein the sleeve is provided with a series of spaced apart holesformed transversely therethrough.
 3. The item holder of claim 2, whereinthe holes are bordered by reinforcing grommets.
 4. The item holder ofclaim 2, wherein the holes are equally spaced apart along a length ofthe sleeve.
 5. The item holder of claim 1, wherein the first set ofpockets includes a plurality of differently sized pockets that are openat upper ends thereof.
 6. The item holder of claim 1, wherein the secondset of pockets includes two pockets that are open at an upper endsthereof, and extend across an entire width of the rear face.
 7. The itemholder of claim 1, wherein the main body includes a lower edge and apair of side edges joining with the upper and lower edges.
 8. The itemholder of claim 1, wherein a rigidifying core is interposed between thefront and rear faces.
 9. An item holder used within a retaining deviceand adapted to hold a variety of office supplies, the item holdercomprising: a main body having a front face and a rear face joined tothe front face, the main body including an upper edge; an elongatedsleeve that enables removable attachment of the main body to theretaining device, the elongated sleeve having a plurality of spacedapart holes; and a support bar selectively receivable in the elongatedsleeve.
 10. The combination of claim 9, wherein the sleeve slidablyreceives the support bar having opposed ends selectively supportable ona file support edge of a file organizer defining the retaining device.11. The combination of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of spacedapart holes formed in the elongated sleeve is surrounded by a pair ofgrommets.
 12. The combination of claim 9, wherein the holes of thesleeve selectively receive rings of a ring binder defining the retainingdevice.
 13. The combination of claim 9, wherein the main body has agenerally rectangular periphery.
 14. A kit comprising: a main bodyhaving a front face and a rear face joined to the front face, the mainbody including an upper edge attached to a sleeve extendinglongitudinally of the upper edge; and an elongated support bar capableof slidable insertion in the sleeve such that opposed ends of thesupport bar project beyond opposed edges of the sleeve.
 15. The kit ofclaim 14, wherein the sleeve is provided with a series of spaced apartholes formed transversely therethrough.
 16. The kit of claim 14, whereinthe support bar is I-shaped in cross section.
 17. The kit of claim 14,wherein the support bar has a length which is greater than a length ofthe main body.
 18. The kit of claim 14, wherein the opposed ends of thesupport bar include support retainers extending upwardly and laterallythereof.
 19. The kit of claim 14, wherein the support bar has an upperedge, a lower edge and a series of reinforcing members joining the upperand lower edges.
 20. The kit of claim 14, wherein all of the pockets areopen at upper ends thereof.